GRi Press Review
Ghana 24 - 05 - 2001
Rawlings
stripped of soldier bodyguards …amid protests
Inusah
reverts to NPP today?
Tripartite
C'ttee to review ESB
Free my
client
Ato,
Peprah, 4 others in court
'Set up
body for religious affairs'
Gov't to
streamline SSNIT operations
J.H. Mensah
exposes Bagbin
CHRAJ set
to probe Appiah-Ampofo
No More
June 4
Deputy
Speaker averts showdown in Parliament
Woman
steals ring at Engagement ceremony
I'm
disappointed but…
Rawlings
stripped of soldier bodyguards …amid protests
The
Ministry of Defence on Wednesday recalled to barracks 25 soldiers of the 64
Infantry Regiment, popularly known as Commandos, who were personal bodyguards
of former President J.J. Rawlings, reports The Chronicle.
They have
been replaced with police personnel, as mandated by the Constitution of the
land.
When the
authorities sent the police guard to his residence to assume duty, ex-President
Rawlings openly protested against the withdrawal of his personal bodyguards,
claiming that he had been stripped naked.
Even though
the change over was incident free, the ex-President refused to accommodate the
police in his house, warning them that he does not want to see them within or
outside his house.
The police
guard obeyed the ex-President's directive to avoid any nasty confrontation.
They moved out of the house, but took to patrolling the area to ensure the
safety of ex-President Rawlings.
The
ex-President, Chronicle learnt, had earlier complained bitterly about the
withdrawal of the soldiers.
"I
don't want the police. I don't want the police. I am traveling outside the
country on Friday and since you have withdrawn my bodyguards who will assist me
to pack my personal belongings? Rawlins was quoted as saying.
Sources
said that since he left office on January 7 this year following the defeat of
his party, the NDC, at the 2000 elections, the ex-President has maintained 25
personnel of the 64 Infantry Regiment who rotate on a twenty-four-hour basis.
His personal bodyguard, WOI Patrick Kuntoh, a veteran of the 31st
December coup, is said to be on leave.
In an
interview with Choice FM, a private radio station, on Wednesday, Ms Elizabeth
Ohene, the government spokesperson, said under the 1992 constitution both the
sitting President and the ex-President are supposed to be guarded by police
personnel, but not soldiers.
GRi…/
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Tripartite
C'ttee to review ESB
The
Tripartite Committee is to be mandated to review the issue of End-of-Service
Benefit (ESB), Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Minister of Finance, told Parliament on
Tuesday.
The
minister, who was answering a question from Mr Kwakye Addo, NDC-Afram Plains
South, is quoted by the Daily Graphic as saying that the committee would
determine whether or not the ESB should be released, and the basis for
determining workers' entitlements.
The
previous government suspended the ESB with effect from December 31, 1990.
The
Minister of Finance said some of the considerations that precipitated the
suspension of the ESB remain, and the government has decided that as a
follow-up to the agreement on the minimum wage, the Tripartite Committee, made
up of the government, employers and organized labour, should be made to review
it.
Mr
Osafo-Maafo explained that some of the factors that necessitated the suspension
of ESB were the magnitude of the total amount involved and its overall impact
on the national economy, particularly on the viability of many private sector
of enterprises, the creation of job opportunities, government borrowing from
the domestic market, and inflation.
Mr
Osafo-Maafo said an economic management team is currently working on these, and
that it is expected that discussions would continue up to the end of June.
More…/
Free my
client
Mr Ambrose
Dery, counsel for Mallam Ali Yussuf Isa, the dismissed Minister of Youth and
Sports, who is being tried for stealing $46,000 belonging to the Ghana Football
Association (GFA), on Wednesday called on the Fast Track High Court to
discharge his client.
He said
evidence so far adduced by the Prosecution is circumstantial and inadequate to
form enough basis for the accused person to open his defence.
Mr Dery
made the call when he made a submission of "no case" before the
court, chaired by Mr Justice Julius Ansah, an Appeal Court judge, who sat as an
additional High Court judge.
Mallam Isa
has pleaded not guilty to two counts of stealing and fraudulently causing
financial loss to the state.
GRi…/
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Ato,
Peprah, 4 others in court
The
Ghanaian Times reports that two former Ministers of State and four other
ex-government officials were on Wednesday arraigned before the fast-track court
in Accra, in connection with the Quality Grain Company saga.
They are
Ibrahim Adam, former Minister of Food and Agriculture (1994-1996), Kwame
Preprah, former Minister of Finance, Nana Ato Dadzie, former Chief of Staff and
Kwesi Ahwoi, Chief Executive, Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC).
The rest
are Dr Samuel Dapaah, former Chief Director, Ministry of Food and Agriculture,
and Dr George Yankey, a former Director of the Ministry of Finance.
They have
been charged on seven counts of conspiring to commit crime, acting together to
willfully commit crime and thereby causing financial loss to the state.
All the
accused persons, except Dr Yankey were in court. They pleaded not guilty to the
charges and were granted self-cognisance bail until June 6 for the case to be
mentioned.
The court,
presided over by Justice Kwame Afreh, an Appeal Court Judge, was filled to
capacity with some leading members of the National Democratic Congress, party
supporters and sympathizers of the accused.
Responding
to the charges, counsel for Mr Preprah (third accused), Mr Kweku Baah, called
the court's attention to a writ filed at the Supreme Court which is still
pending and contained the issues raised before the court by the prosecution.
He said
that the writ filed by the NDC was on the basis of what was served on the third
accused as charge caution statement information and also tailored out the issue
cleverly couched in the charges preferred by prosecution.
According
to him, due process of the law clearly required that the accused persons be
made fully aware of the charges being preferred against them before trial.
"Nothing like that has been done," he said.
Reading the
charges earlier, the Atorney-General, Nana Akufo Addo, said that Dapaah (second
accused), Mr Peprah (third accused) and George Yankey (fourth accused)
willfully caused financial loss of 6,296,330 dollars to the state.
He said
that Peprah and Yankey willfully caused financial loss of three million dollars
to the stae, on the third count.
On the
fourth and fifth counts, the Attorney-General, told the court that between
February 1999 and 2000, Peprah willfully caused financial loss of two million
dollars to the state, and together with Yankey, willfully caused further
financial loss of 1,2774,305 dollars, 25 cents to the state.
He said
that Yankey, in November, 2000, willfully caused financial loss of 28,400
dollars to the state on count six, while Dapaah, Peprah, Dadzie and Yankey,
together willfully caused financial loss of ¢3,826,250,547.05 to the state.
Nana Addo
said that the accused persons were all very senior public officers between 1994
and 2000, during the period which the events and acts forming the basis of the
charges laid against them took place.
GRi…/
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'Set up
body for religious affairs'
A former
PNDC Secretary for Religious Affairs, Mr I.K. Obeng, has called for the
re-establishment of the Centre for Religious Affairs to oversee and co-ordinate
all religious bodies in the country, according to The Evening News.
"Such
a body will also promote freedom of worship in conformity with the provisions
of the 1992 Constitution and avert nasty incidents such as the current impasse
between the Christian community and the Ga Traditional Council over the ban on
noise making", he pointed out.
Speaking in
an interview with the paper, in Accra, Mr Obeng said he has already written to
the President, Mr J.A. Kufuor, suggesting the re-establishment of the Centre.
According
to him, "the need for the creation of such a Centre is based on the
recognition that a Centre for the monitoring of religious groups will enable
the government to create the appropriate environment to promote freedom of
worship and strengthen the moral and spiritual development of Ghanaians".
Mr Obeng
said Dr Kwame Nkrumah, realizing the importance of religion in the
transformation of the country, socially, politically and economically, set up
the centre.
GRi…/
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Gov't to
streamline SSNIT operations
Mr Yaw
Osafo-Maafo, Minister of Finance on Tuesday said Government proposes to
streamline the operations of the Social Security and National Insurance Trust
(SSNIT) to make it more focused and responsive to the interests of its
beneficiaries, according to The Accra Mail.
Government
is also to encourage the development of other schemes and to make tax breaks
for those, who can afford to take out private pensions to do so to supplement
the SSNIT scheme.
Mr Osafo-Maafo
was answering a question in Parliament posed by the MP for Afram Plains South,
Mr Kwakye Addo as to whether his ministry would consider encouraging
alternative pension schemes to break the monopoly that SSNIT enjoys.
The
Minister said SSNIT has over the years become the bastion of corruption and
political patronage and deflected from its core function of safe investment and
custody of the assets of workers and ensuring maximum returns.
He said in
view of the mismanagement and corruption that have bedeviled the operations of
SSNIT and the need to protect workers when they are most vulnerable, the
government is studying the issue of workers pension rights and alternative
schemes.
Dr
Osafo-Maafo said the study is to recommend changes in the law as well as the
establishment of an appropriate regulatory framework to ensure that the pension
industry is well organsied and regulated to ensure maximum protection and
benefits for workers.
He added
that SSNIT had been turned into a venture capital fund, entering into extremely
risky investments and ventures and used as the second central bank to the
previous government. Mr Osafo-Maafo said the government has initiated measures
to streamline SSNIT's operations, which include dissolving the SSNIT Board and
constituting a new one to streamline its management and to ensure that
investment policies are re-focused towards the achievement of maximum returns
and benefits to contributors.
GRi…/
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J.H. Mensah
exposes Bagbin
Mr J.H.
Mensah, the Majority Leader in Parliament and Minister for Government Business,
last Tuesday debunked Mr Alban Bagbin, the National Democratic Congress (NDC)
Party Minority Leader's assertion in a statement in Parliament that the
Majority New Patriotic Party (NPP) MPs were indifferent in their reaction to
the detention of E.T. Mensah, reports The Crusading Guide.
J.H. Mensah
revealed on the floor of Parliament that when Bagbin contacted him on the
Saturday that E.T. Mensah was detained, he (Mensah) assured him of linking him
to the president.
He said, he
went straight to the President and told him of the arrest of E.T. Mensah, after
which he (J.H. Mensah) linked Bagbin to the President for the discussion of the
issue.
He said
Bagbin, hence, on three occasions talked to the President over phone.
He
therefore expressed surprise over the insistence of Bagbin and the Minority
that the Majority looked on unconcerned when one of them (Parliamentarians) was
arrested and detained.
J.H. Mensah
indicated that a lot had gone on among them (MPs) concerning E.T. Mensah's
detention, adding that it was improper and outrageous that the Minority should
accuse the Majority of complicity with unjust actions by the police and other
security agencies, without evidence.
More…/
CHRAJ set
to probe Appiah-Ampofo
Sequel to
the petition sent to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice
(CHRAJ) by The Crusading Guide, requesting the Commission to probe Mr
Appiah-Ampofo, the former National Insurance Commissioner, GHRAJ has requested
the paper to furnish it with certain documents.
On Tuesday,
some very important documents in respect of the US$96,500 kickbacks the
ex-Commissioner allegedly collected from Aon, the new insurance brokers he was
said to have brought in to replace Ghana Airways' former brokers, were made
available to the CHRAJ.
They
included some additional ones apart from the ones the paper based its series of
publications on.
One of them
was a letter written to Appiah-Ampofo by Mr P.S. Kpodo, Executive Chairman of
the Ghana Re-Insurance Organisation (Ghana Re), dated May 5, 1995.
GRi…/
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No More
June 4
The Daily
Guide says despite mass expectation that the up-coming 4th of June
would be celebrated as a public holiday, indications are that Monday June 4,
will not be declared a statutory holiday.
This
follows a decision by the Attorney-General Nana Akufo Addo to retain the legal
backing on all existing national holidays save, the June four, which is
associated with a mutiny of junior ranks and a few junior officers in the Ghana
Army who overthrew the SMC II government of Gen. F.W.K. Akuffo on June 4, 1979.
A bill has
therefore, been laid in parliament seeking to expunge from the statute books,
the continued observance and celebration of June 4, as a public holiday.
To this
end, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo,
on Tuesday May 22, 2001 laid the relevant bill seeking to repeal the public
holidays law (PNDCL 220) 1989, as amended by the public holidays (schedule
amendment) law 1992 (PNDCL 274) and public holidays (amendment) Act, 1995 (Act
507).
Entitled,
The Public Holidays Act 2001, the Bill states that the President may be
Executive Instrument, declare any other day a public Holiday.
Interestingly,
under the amendment all existing holidays have been retained save June 4 which
has been deleted from the schedule of public holidays.
GRi…/
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Deputy
Speaker averts showdown in Parliament
The
Independent writes that but for the resilience of the First Deputy-Speaker, Hon
Freddie Blay, Parliament last Tuesday would have witnessed an ugly spectacle.
But the
First Deputy Speaker who was acting as the Speaker in absence of Rt. Hon Peter
Ala Adjetey stuck to his gun and used his authority to disallow contributions
to a statement by the Minority Leader, Hon A.S.K. Bagbin on the effectiveness
of the Minority's four day boycott of Parliamentary proceedings.
The
minority's decision followed the arrest of Hon. E.T. Mensah, MP for Ningo
Prampram.
Members of
Parliament belonging to both sides had geared themselves up in a possible
showdown against one another after the Minority Leader had finished with the
presentation of his statement to the house, which most Majority MPs, especially
the leadership, described as highly controversial and uncalled for.
But the
determination of the MPs to pour out their anger as was the case with the
majority and the minority's resilience not to be bullied by the majority, was
nipped in the bud when the Speaker after the statement gave a clear indication
that he would not allow contributions form any member of the House.
GRi…/
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Woman
steals ring at Engagement ceremony
The age-old
adage which says "once bitten twice shy" entreats all not to fall
into unpleasant situation the second time. But whether some people apply this
to their lives at all is an entirely different question, writes the P & P.
Most people
would have expected that a 25-year-old petty trader of Ashaiman would have been
wise and turn over a new leaf after being arrested and given a severe beatings
sometime last year for allegedly stealing some parcels at a wedding reception.
However,
having managed to free herself from that unpleasant situation, Gloria Anokye
might have decided to continue practicing the job she felt so good at.
Stealing.
What is
shocking is the fact that she is once again in the grips of the police for
stealing at an engagement ceremony at Ashaiman.
P & P
investigations revealed that the engagement ceremony of Efia Owusuwaa, a day
care attendant was going on smoothly last May 6, 2001, when beautifully dressed
Gloria walked into the hall where the event was taking place. Thinking she was
one of the numerous invited guests nobody questioned her until the unexpected
happened later on.
P & P
gathered that when it was time for the husband-to-be's family to present their
items, they found to their dismay that the engagement ring was mysteriously
missing from the room where the items had been kept.
It was when
an alarm was raised that one of the guests who had earlier seen Gloria come out
of the said room alerted the family.
Although
she initially denied knowledge of the theft, when confronted and searched the
stolen ring was seen.
GRi…/
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I'm
disappointed but…
Ghana's
representative at the Miss Universe pageant, 20-year-old Precious Agyare has
been very disappointed that she could not make it to the top ten of the
competition held in Puerto Rico recently, according to the Graphic Showbiz.
Precious,
who had hoped to, at least, make it to the top ten, said she was well prepared
for the pageant and cannot understand why she did not make it.
According
to her, before she left for the USA, she went through physical fitness drills
and personal grooming for three weeks.
She said she also went through other related drills such as interview
skills and sessions on dress and etiquette.
"So I
knew I was adequately prepared. However I did not make the desired impact and
it is taking me quite a while to get over the fact that I did not win
something".
On whether
the people who won places deserved to win, Precious thinks that some of them
got to the top only because of the countries they came from.
"In
the Miss Universe Pageant, there are certain countries that always get to the
top ten. Not necessarily because their girls are good but just because they are
from particular countries such as the USA".
She
admitted that some of the winners were good like "Miss Universe Puerto
Rico who was a very nice girl, very eloquent and graceful enough and deserved
to win.
GRi…/
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